Penicillin-type compounds belong to a well-known family of antibiotics which have been widely used in recent years for the treatment of infectious diseases. A number of useful penicillins have been obtained by varying the substitution at the 6-position of the penicillin nucleus. The search continues, however, for new compounds having a high order of activity and a high degree of stability.
In an effort to improve and expand upon the existing properties of these compounds, efforts have been directed towards improving the substitution at the 6-position of the penicillin nucleus. We have dicovered that the presence of an .alpha.-amino-.omega.-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)acylamido moiety at the 6-position of a penicillin nucleus results in certain novel penicillin derivatives having an enhanced activity against one or more gram-positive or gram-negative microorganisms. As antibacterial agents, the compounds of this invention are therapeutically effective in the treatment of infectious diseases caused by gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria in poultry and in animals, including man. Moreover, these compounds are useful as animal feed supplements and as the active ingredient in germicidal preparations employed as surface disinfectants.